Signaling system



Aug. l5, 1933. M. H. HovEY SIGNALING SYSTEM Filed Jan. 12, 1951 WQ,BONN.

UNITED STATES Patented-Aug. 15, 1933 t s 1,922.09@ PATENT. 4orsier.

7 Claims.

This invention relates to railroadV signaling systems of the A. P. B.(absolute,'perirlis'sive, block) type, designed to control trailie bothdirections on a single track, though in s'orne 'aspects it is capable ofmore general use. It has been illustrated as including that p'ait of thesystem' adjacent a passing siding for controlling trains r'noying' inone direction only, the remainder of,` the system for controllingtheother direc-'- tion having been omitted for the sake of clarity.

In one aspect the invention includes means whereby a' train approachinga siding from one direction, as fro'i'n the west, will not only setup adanger signal to prevent a train from v`leaving that siding in theopposite direction, but also will set up two caution signals to warntrains approaching the siding from the otherv direction as from the eastthat a train is approachingthe siding somewhere ahead. In another aspectthe invention includes a directional relay and its control, which is`suitable for general signaling use, though it has been illustrated asforming a part of the above described system for which it is especiallysuitable.

The invention accomplishes several objects,- the basis of which isproviding a system which per'- forms the usual A. P. B. functions forvreliably setting up on the opposite side of a siding from the trainapproaching the siding, two spaced caution signals and for making theone of these which is closest to the siding turn to danger when thetrain approaches within a certain distance of the siding. Although thisobject has'been accomplished formerly this invention accomplishes at thesame time the additional object of securing this result at greatereconomy by the omission of any extrarelays for accomplishing the aboveresult. In other words, it may be said that this invention accomplishesan oldAresult with simpliiied apparatus and in fact without the use of'a relay which was formerly considered necessary. In its other aspect,the invention provides a directional scheme including a normallyenergized directional relay and control circuits therefor which includeboth the pick-up circuit and a holding circuit, the latter operatingwithout eithcr a stick contact or a resistance outside of the relay.Applicant has nnally accomplished all of thisin an entirely satisfactorymanner, the full strength ci the battery being used and the systen'ibeing entirely dependable.

With these and various other objects in view, the invention may consistof certain novel features of construction and operation, as will be morefully described and particularly pointed out inthe speciiication,drawing and claims appended hereto.-

In the drawing, which illustrates an embodi- (Cli 246:41)

mentof the device; and wherein likereference characters are used todesignate like parts,

The iigure is a diagrammatic illustration of that part' of the-completesystem which controls one directionof `the two=direction trailicaddacent the passing siding, certain parts being eliininated for thesakeof simplicity.' l Althugh= `this invention may take n'iny forms,only ene has been chosen fr illustration. The signals which arecontrolled by the portion of the signaling system shown are ninnberd 1,3 and 5, allctrllin'g traffic-ih one dirctibh, which. in-.tre'pr'seminstance, is w'stteunu.- ci from. right w f lefti l 'rn-efe f. wennnrniuy te additional signalsfl'; fr cdiitrolling tr'ic'in thesame-direction, and l'additional signals iit 'ninna bere'd for ecntui'gtiene iiiftu-ppsite'ail tion.I

According te the csulfeiiston, 'the tjr'aeii' is divided inte insulatedtrani' stis A, B; p and E, eachv of which asstteiy-Cfntted te the railsat (ni end; and a tli elay'vconiie't'd to the rails atthe ppite' end.The tracli relays are 'numbered Sie-LA, -9-'-B`, QL, etc; VEach of theserelays operates naritur having on'e or fr ior' circuit controllersthere, the connections o'f which will be Vdescribed lcilnvA There isalso a passing tacli or siding' F insulated frornlthe other sans'. i' yAsier' as passible thev circuitsr'lfor' c'iritr'oning signai 1 arenumbered Between intend les, the' circuits for cntllin'g' signal 3between 300 and 399", and the circuits f ofcoatroiimg signal 5 tetween500 and 599. .Where the circuits are clearly duplicatedl on each of thethree signals they will be described for one signal only, it beingunderstood that the' numbering system for the other signals is the samewith the change of the hundreds digit.

'Ihe signal lar'np circuits are alik for each signal, so only those forsignal 1 will be described. The circuit for lighting the green lamp atsignal 1 is numbered 101, the circuit for lighting the yellow lamp isnumbered 103uand the circuit for lighting the red lamp is 105. Whereasingle wire has been used for all three circuits, ithas been given threenumbers, and where a single wire has been used just for circuits 101 and103 it has been given both of those numbers. All of the lamp circuitsfor signal 1 include the battery 11, all those of signal 3 include thebattery 13, all those of signal 5 include battery 15.

The three circuits 101, 103 and 105 are controlled jointly by linevrelay 107, the armature of which carries circuit controllers 108, 109and 110, and by repeater line relay'lll' the' armature of which carriesthe' circuit controllers 112 and 113. The controller 113 connects thebattery al: ternatively to controller 110 for the green and yellowlights, or to circuit 105 for the red light. When controller 113 isclosed to connect c ontroller 110 to the battery, then thislatterzcontroller connects alternatively the circuits 101 and 103,completing 101 to the green light when in the position shown (left) andcompleting 103 to the yellow light when in the righthand position.

As indicated by the drawing, the' armature of relay 107 is atwo-position polar armature its position being controlled by thedirection of the current owing through relay 107. At the station ofsignal 3 the line relay is numbered v307 and the repeater line relay311. At the station of signal 5, the line relay is numbered 507 andrepeater line relay 511. The controllers are numbered according to thesame system used at the station of signal 1,.relay 311 having theadditional armatures 315 and 316 and the relay 511 having additionalarmatures 514, 515 and 516. At the station of signal 5 there is locateda directional relay 517 which controls an armature carrying circuitcontrollers 518, 519 and 520.

The line relays 107 and 111 are normally 'energized through the linecircuit 125 (shown in heavy lines), which is controlled in part at thestation of signal 3 and in part at the station of signal 5.- The circuit125 may be traced from battery 15 through controllers 519 and 520,through controllers 315 and 316, through track relay controllers 125-Dto theline relay 107, and also torepeater line relay 111 throughthebranch circuit 126.- The branch circuit 126 normally extends fromcircuit 125 at line relay 107 through armature 109 to. repeater linerelay 111 and back through controller 108 to circuit 125 at line relay107. When the polarity in line circuit 125-is reversed the controllers108 and 109 nip to the righthand side and reverse the connectionsbetween branch circuit 126 and the line circuit 125 using insofar asnecessary the reversal connections 126-R. This has theelect ofpreventing the reversal of current in repeater line relay 111. Thereversal of the current n circuit 125 maybe accomplished by the shiftingof the controllers519 and 520 or by shifting of the controllers 315 and316. When the controllers 315 and 316 are shifted, the branch circuit125- R connected to battery 13 is switched into circuit 125 in place ofthe portion of the circuit 125 which extends to battery 17.

During the reversal above described, it is usually desirable that therepeater line relay 111 maintain its armature in itsvfront or picked-upposition. To accomplish this result the line repeater relays 111, etc.,are made slow releasing in any well known manner as by providing anumber of copper washers on one of the cores. In order to preventsetting up a clear signal at an improper time as when a single car ismerely passing from one track section to another, the line repeaterrelays 111, etc., are also constructed to have a retarded pick-up. Thisis accomplished by providing a retardation coil which is of lowerconductance-turns than the main pick-up coil and opposed thereto. Thisretardation coil is normally disconnected, but is connected whenever therelay releases the controller 112. It is preferably located adjacent tothe' armature, so as to have its major effect during the initialenergizing period and retard the effectiveness of the main pick-up coil.The construction of this relay is disclosed in my co-pending applicationSerial Number 480,081, led September 6, 1930, and the combination ofthis relay with the novel `type of line relay 107 is disclosed in myco-pending application Serial Number 499,886, led December 4,

1930 and claimed in my copending application Serial No. 520,422, -iiledMarch 5, 1931.

. The line relays 307 and 311 are normally energized by a line circuit325 with its branch 326 to the repeater line relay 311. The circuit 325may normally be traced from the battery 15 through controller 516 torelay 307 and back through con- 'troller 325-C to junction point 25 andfrom there through controller B25-B to junction point 27 and back tothebattery 15 through controller 515.v Junctions 25 and 27 are alsonormally connected by directional branch circuit 325-D throughcontroller 518 operated by the directional relay.

Line relays 507 and 511 are normally energized through circuit 525 shownin heavy lines. -This circuit .may be traced from battery 17 at thestation of signal 7 through controllers 715 and 716 through controller525-B controlled by. track section B to the line relays 507 and 511. The.controllersv 715 and 716 are controlled by line relay 711. It lshouldbe understood that this relay 711 is controlled directly by trackcircuit A through track relay-Q-A and indirectlyy by the track circuitsahead -(to the west), not shown, through what is known as thetumble-down system, one form of which is disclosed in my applicationSerial No. 499,886` The control circuit for relay 711 is similar to thatof line circuit 525.

Directional relay The directional relay 517 is preferably wound with twoseparate coils, one of which isof suiciently'lower conductance-turnsthan the other so that under the influence of a given voltage said coilof lower conductance-turns will only hold the armature if it has beenpreviously picked up by the other coil. The pick-up coil may properlycomprise 21,000 turns of #31 copper enameled wire having a resistance of11,000 ohms, in which case the holding coil could be made up of 7500turns of the size #28 wire made of what is known as number 30 alloyandhaving a vresistance of 525 ohms. The term conductance-turns is usedas-the convenient manner of indicating a characteristic of the relaycorresponding to the more common term 'ampere turns, which latter,however, is dependent on the voltage to which a coil is submitted.

The pick-up coil of directional relay 517 is normally energized bycircuit 530 which may be traced from the relay coil 517 through theupper contact of armature 514 to the battery 15 and back to relay 517.The holding circuit 531 or the circuit for holding coil of relay 517 maybe traced through relay 517 through armature 531-B to the battery 15 andback to the relay 517. There is a second holding circuit 532 which is inpart common with holding circuit 531 but branches oi therefrom atjunction 26 and goes to the battery through a controller 514 and itsback contact.

Tumble-down operation Although the tumble-down operation has been fullydescribed in the second of my copending applications mentioned above, itmay be brieily summarized here. If a train is moving eastward (towardthe siding F) on track section A or on any of the sections to the westthereof by which line relay 711 is indirectly controlled, this relay isdeenergized. This releases the armature and shifts controllers 715 and716 to break the circuit 525. The breaking of the circuit 525de-energizes line relays 507 and 511. De-energization of 511 permits therelease of its armature, after the elapse of `thereleasing period,andthis shifting of lthe controllers of relay 511 would have the primaryeffect of breaking the green lamp circuit 501 by lowering controller 513and of completing the danger lamp circuit 505 through the lower contactof controller 513. This de-energization would also have the secondaryeffect of shifting the controllers 315 and 316 to their back positionreversing the polarity of current in circuit 325. This reversal ofcurrent in circuit 1325 causes the controller 310 to nip to therighthand position,l and thereby break the green lamp circuit 301 andcomplete the caution lamp circuit 303.

Operation of the directional relay If a train now be imagined astraveling West-` ward and about to enter track section B the partsrelating to signal 5 and to the directional relay would be as shown inthe drawing. As the train entered section B it would shunt trackrelay-9B simultaneously releasing controllers 525-,B and 5B1-,13.v Therelease of 5B1- B -Would immediately close the holding circuit 531for,.direc tional relay 517 and since that relay was at vthat timeenergized, the holding circuit would be suincient to maintain thecontrollers in their front position Vas shown. The releasing ofcontroller 525f-B would cause the de-energization of relay 5l1,but duetothe slow-release oi the. relay 511 its controllers wouldnot shiftuntil aftenfthe holding circuit 531 had been closed; asA described. Thecontroller V514 with the .others would then shiftbreaking the. pick-upcircuit 530, butA this would have no effect due tothe fact that theholde ing circuit was previously closed. In its .'new po,-d sition(against its back contact) controller 3,14:` would ,complete the secondholdingcircuit 532. This second holding circuit would be effective tomaintain the directional relay 517 energized'as long asthe repeater linerelay 511 remained de. energized. In other words, the second holdingcircuit prevents the release,- of the directional relay when the rstholding circuit is brokenfby the pick-up of armature 5B1-B. It shouldbeunderstood. that although omitted for the sake of. simplicity, therewould usually be a second track section between the signal 5 and thesignal 7 so that while the train was on that track sec-l tic-n thesecond holding circuit would be .necessary to keep the directional relay517 energized. The directional relay 517 serves two functions. The rstof these, which is of general utility,.is to prevent the operation ofthe tumble-down feature when the train is travelling in the directionsgoverned by the signals. Thus in the present instance, ii a train weretravelling westward, as described, it would release the controller B25-B and make a break at that point in the line circuit 325 which controlsthe signal 3 throughl line relay 307 and 311. The directional relay v517by maintaining the armature 518 in its front posi'- tion nullies theeiect of the break at S25-B and maintains the circuit 325 closed throughits directional branch 325-D which includes the controller 518. 2

When the train is travelling eastward, the line repeater relay 511 isde-energized through the tumble-down feature described above and thepick-up circuit through the controller 514 -is therefore broken beforethe train reaches section B. Since the holding circuit 531 is notcornpleted when the pick-up circuit is broken, the directional relay 517becomes cie-energized. The completion of the holding circuits, either bythe release of-'controller-531-B or the complete release of controller514, would then be ineffective to cause the pick-up of relay 517 sincethe ex citation of the holding coil is too Weak to accomplish thisresult. The relay v511 and also the other, relays, is of the commercialform with a springat the front contact having the eiect of breaking thecircuit through the front-,contact before the relay has becomesuicientlyde-energizedrtdrelease the armature all the way to thebackccontacts. Thus there is a suicient time interval betweentheffppening of pick-up circuit 530 land-the closing of holding circuit532 for the directional relayto 'become de-energized. When the trainreaches track section B it releases armature S25- B :thus breaking atthat point the circuit325. As` the` directional branch B25-D of thiscircuit 325 is already broken by armature 518 thisbreakat 325-.-B wouldbe effective and the lline relays 307 and 311 would be de-energizedthussetting up av danger indication at the signal 3 by completingcircuit 305.

I The 'double caution signal When. a train ,is travelling east towardsiding F itis desirable to set up signals at 1 and 3 to advise va.Westbound .train to expect to stop or pass at the siding. In otherwords, it is desirable that as .soon asa train leavesthe siding(not-shown) next-toward the left of the siding shown.. rstj that thetumble-down system set up a danger indicationatthesignals '5 and 7,-andsecondthatthe signals 3 and 1 be made to indicate cautionfsoi that altrain'rpassing signals 1 and-3 in 'thedirectionncontrolled thereby vwillbe advised-:that it must waitv at the siding and possibly nd the othertrain already there; Signal 3-isf setto -caution Whenecontroller 310iiips to theright in response to a reversal of current in line circuit325. The line current is reversed by thev shifting ofcontrollers 515 and516 when line repeater relay511 is de-energized in the operation of thetumblefdown feature already de'- scribed. f

The second function of the directional relay 517 is to set up an=extracaution signal on the right of the siding (at signal 1)y `Whenever atrain is on the left of the siding 'and travelling toward the siding,and ,to set up a-clear indication'at signal 1 when a train the sameposition is travelling away fromthe siding. As previously described,when a train'is in .track section A or any of the track 4sections'to theleft,tliereof,tlie tumbledown'syst'em operates -to cause the release ofline'relays 507 and..511 and also of directional relay 517.;The.;release.of directional relay 517 shifts the armatures 519 and 520reversing the connections of battery 15 to circuit 125. This reversesthe polarity of current in circuit 125 and causes the polar armature ofrelay 107 to ip to the right. When the controller 110 iiips to the rightit breaks the green lamp circuit 101 and completes the caution lampcircuit 103. As the train travels on through section A and into sectionBthe repeater `line relay 311 is de-energized as above described. Thiscauses the shifting of controllers 315 and 316 to disconnect battery 15from the circuit 125 and connect battery 13 in its place, but battery 13is also connected in reverse polarity so that there is no eiect onsignal 1, the yellow lamp circuit 103 remaining completed. When thetrain clears track section B, the directional relay 517 picks up, shiftsthe controllers 519 and 520 to their normal position. When the trainalso clears track section C,

the repeater line relay 311 will be energized and the controllers 315and 316 will be shifted to their normal position to reconnect battery 15to incomplete line circuit 125. The result of this is that as soon asthe train clears track section D so that relay 9-D is energized, thecircuit 125 is completed with normal polarity so that the controller 110flips back to the left, as shown, completing the circuit 101 for thegreen lamp.

If we suppose that a westbound train is located in section C the trackrelay 9-C will be le-energized and the line relay 307 and 311 willlikewise be de-energized. The de-energization of line relay 311 willcause the shifting of armature 313 to complete the circuit 305 for thered lamp and break the circuits 301, 303 for the proceed indications.The release of armatures 315 and 316 will set up a caution indication atsignal l by connecting battery 13 in circuit 125 in reversed polarity asdescribed. As the westbound train moves into track section B it sets upthe holding circuit 531 for the directional relay 517 by releasing thecontroller 531B to its back contact. This maintains the controllers 519and 520 in their front position so that the battery 15 is connected withnormal polarity. Therefore, when the train clears track section C thetrack relay Q-C picks up to complete the circuits 325 and 326 to relay311, drawing controllers 315 and 316 to their front contacts to connectthe battery 15 to the circuit 125. As the battery is connected in normalpolarity the caution indication of signal 1 changes to clear indication,although, as has been seen, if the train were in the same section butmoving toward siding F, signal 1 would indicate caution, due tode-energization of directional relay 517.

The usual permissive indication is maintained at signal 3 so long as thetrain is in block or section B. This indication is secured by means ofcontrollers 515 and 516 which through their back contacts connectbattery 15 in reverse polarity to line circuit 325 so that the linerelay 307 is energized with reverse polarity and its controller 310 ipsto the right, completing yellow lamp circuit 303. It should be notedthat the repeater line relay 511 had become de-energized by the shuntingof track relay 9-B with the consequent release of the armature 525-B tobreak line circuit 525 through which together with branch line circuit526 repeater line relay 511 is energized.

It is to be understood that I do not wish to be limited by the exactembodiments of the device shown, which are merely by way of illustrationand not limitation, as various and other forms of the device will ofcourse be apparent to those skilled in the art without departure fromthe spirit of the invention or the scope of the claims. it should beunderstood that in the claims such old terms as signals, trackway,relay, etc. are used in an extremely broad sense, including allequivalents, such, for example, as automatic train control apparatus.

I claim:

1. A railway signaling system including a trackway having forward,intermediate and rear blocks, forward, intermediate and rear signalscontrolling the entrance of each block; a directional relay having apick-up coil and a holding coil of lower conductance-turns than thepick-up coil, means for rendering said holding coil ineffective whensaid trackway is occupied by a train travelling in the direction notcontrolled by said signals only; a circuit in part controlled by saiddirectional relay for controlling said intermediate signal, and acircuit controlled as to polarity by said directional relay forcontrolling said rear signal.

2. A railway signaling system including a trackway having forward,intermediate and rear blocks, forward, intermediate and rear signalscontrolling the entrance of each block; a directional relay having apick-up coil and a holding coil of lower conductance-turns than thepick-up coil, means for rendering said holding coil ineiective when saidtrackway is occupied by a train travelling in the direction notcontrolled by said signals only; a circuit in part controlled by saiddirectional relay for controlling said intermediate Signal, and acircuit directly controlled in part by said directional relay forcontrolling said rear signal.

3. A signaling system including a trackway divided into forward,intermediate and rear track sections; rear traffic control means,including a line relay, for governing the entrance of trains into therear section, intermediate traic control means governing the entrance oftrains onto the intermediate section, and directional means controlledby the direction of traic in the forward sections of track forcontrolling both said intermediate means and said rear line relaydirectly.

4. A railroad signaling system including a trackway, a directional relaycontrolled by the direction of tra'ic on said trackway, a pair of signalrelays having line circuits, and controllers on the armature of saiddirectional relay for controlling the continuity of the circuit for onesignal relay and the polarity of the circuit for the other signal relay.

5. A railroad signaling system including a trackway, a signal relay, aline circuit for said signal relay and a switch for connecting said linecircuit to two batteries alternatively, and a polarity switch forreversing the polarity of connection of one of said batteries.

6. A railroad signaling system including a trackway, a signal relay, aline circuit for said signal relay and a switch for connecting said linecircuit to two batteries alternatively, and a polarity switch forreversing the polarity of connection of one of said batteries, saidpolarity switch being operated in response to the direction of trafc onsaid trackway.

7. A signaling system comprising a plurality of track sections and asignal controlling traffic through said track sections in one direction,a track relay operated by each of said track sections, a line relaycontrolled by two of said track relays, a directional relay includingrelay coils and pickup and holding circuits which energize said coils,said holding circuit including coils having a resistance enough higherthan the coils included in said pickup circuit so that with a givenvoltage the pickup circuit will be capable of causing said relay to pickup, but the holding circuit will be incapable of causing said relay topick up but will be capable of maintaining it in position after it hasbeen picked up, said pickup circuit being controlled by said line relayand said holding circuit being controlled in part directly by one ofsaid track relays, a polar relay for controlling said signal, andpole-changing means operated by said directional relay for controllingsaid polar relay.

MARK H. HOVEY.

